OverDrive Collections FAQs

What titles are in this collection?

The focus of the digital media (downloadable audiobooks and ebooks collection) is primarily on popular materials and bestselling titles. Because this collection is a new service, it does not have the breadth of the collections of materials you will find at your local library. Please check your local library’s catalog to search for a more diverse collection of titles in other formats.

Can you add “special title request” to your collection?

Thank you for asking. If you want a specific title or just want to let us know that you’d like to see more items in a particular subject area, use the suggestion box link at: http://capitalarealibrarydistrict.org/resources/comment-box/

When you submit the form, your suggestions will be reviewed and added a possible purchase list. We will attempt to fill requests if the titles are available from our provider in the desired digital formats and as the limited digital collection budget allows. Also note that pricing of the titles the libraries can purchase also varies dramatically and is a factor in our purchase decisions. Our purchase schedule for this collection is irregular and not all titles are available for public libraries to purchase licenses for distribution to patrons.

Why are there not very many titles in this collection?

From the outset of this new downloadable digital book service, libraries were aware that the budget was only enough to begin with only a very small collection of titles. As with many new services, we recognized that demand would outpace the budget available to fund the collection as we begin. The collection the Capital Area Library District purchased started with only about 300 audiobook titles and has grown rapidly and expanded to include many ebook titles as well; please be patient with your library as we grow this new collection.

Everything I want to listen to or read is checked out. What can I do?

Libraries are aware that most of the titles in the collection are constantly in use, and we understand the hardship it can be to have to wait for a title to become available, but like other popular library bestsellers, demand is greater than available resources through this funding stream can afford. Please use the hold system to reserve the titles that interest you. The system will email you when the title is returned and you will have 3 days to get to a computer and download it. Wait lists may be long and trying to our patience, but good books are worth the wait.

Why am I limited to checking out 10 titles at time?

There is a limited collection of titles in this format at this time. In order to ensure many different people can use the service, patrons are limited to 10 titles at a time from the collection, though this will change to a limit of 6 on May 1.   You can choose the lending period on the items you borrow so if you read or listen a lot, select the shortest lending period available for your item.

You may want to pay attention to the number of items you have checked out. If a hold title becomes available, there is not a way to return all items early to reduce your shelf to meet the 10-title limit.    If you need to learn to return items early you can check this post:  http://capitalarealibrarydistrict.org/news-and-events/news-archive/2011/11/26/returning-early-ebook-answers-1/ 

Open Source?  DRM?  and More

All titles can be listened to on your personal computer with mac or windows operating systems, but at this time, OverDrive does not support Linux based operating systems.  There are some files that do not have Digital Rights Management, but most do.